So far, Houston police have not caught anyone. To issue a citation, they say, they must see the offender tailing the cyclist when they’re not on their way to another, more urgent crime call. Still, almost nine months into the law, there isn’t any indication police have tried to crack down on drivers encroaching in cyclists’ space.

Not that Houston is alone being slow out of the gate on safe passing. Austin approved its own passing law in October 2009, and wrote just eight tickets between then and March 2012. Then last August, police held a sting and with a few undercover cops on bikes wrote dozens of tickets.